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* This happened last week, but session was just too busy to address it…
The Chicago Sun-Times laid off its entire staff of photographers Thursday and plans to use freelance photographers and reporters to shoot photos and video, the newspaper said.
A total of 28 full-time staffers received the news at a morning meeting, according to sources familiar with the situation.
The Sun-Times released a statement connecting the move to the increasing importance of video in news reporting, but the organization also is not profitable currently, according to a knowledgeable source who was not authorized to speak publicly. […]
The move to have reporters shoot video and photos while covering stories is a growing trend among television stations and newspapers, according to California-based media analyst Alan Mutter, who said quality may be sacrificed in the process.
“We’ll always have a lot of pictures — there will always be something between the articles — but will we have great photography, the memorable iconic images? Probably less so,” Mutter said.
* The Question: Your thoughts on this development?
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:11 am
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
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Typical big company laying off people who can use the jobs. We will be the losers.
Comment by Belle Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:15 am
And my grandmother set type for our local paper nearly a century ago. Technology changes.
Comment by Downstate Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:16 am
Elevator Operators
Fax machine service technician
VCR repairmen
Switchboard operators
Life changes….be prepared
Comment by Downstate Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:19 am
This is happening in all job sectors. Companys contracting work out instead of paying the costs associated with having more employees on payroll. You provide no insurance to contractors and dont pay payroll taxes on them.
Comment by SO IL M Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:23 am
It almost sounds like they’re going to comb YouTube for content, doesn’t it?
Comment by Skeptic Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:27 am
The vanishing of work due to technological advances. You can delay it, but you can’t stop it.
As governments must learn too if we are not to have a 19th century state workforce in a 21st century world. There will be new jobs, too, of course, but they will require different preparation and skills.
Comment by cassandra Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:29 am
Photography is not obsolete. A physical newspaper may become redundant, but news websites still publish photos and videos. Do not be complacent when industrialists ax workers to stuff their own pockets with the ‘profits.’ Your job may be next.
Comment by O'olish Amaneh Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:31 am
Quality is absolutely being sacrificed.
For as long as cameras have been relatively portable it’s been possible to have reporters take the pictures. But you have photographers because they know how to take good pictures.
Comment by In 630 Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:33 am
It is another sad day in the Sun-Times long march to insolvency and dissolution. The paper is shrinking in terms of its size and a weekday copy seldom amounts to more than sixty pages. I continue to read the Sun-Times largely for its sports coverage. The Tribune rarely covers horse racing any longer, but the Sun-Times still prints Illinois racing results.
Who were the geniuses who advised that daily newspapers put their copies online free of charge years ago? Probably the same idiots who were shocked that circulation declined simultaneously. Most papers began charging for online content eventually, but it was a truly stupid move.
I am sorry to say that I suspect that the Sun-Times may not be in business for too much longer. That would be bad for Chicago.
Comment by Esquire Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:33 am
First they force the staffs of all the community papers (like the Southtown) to move downtown — cutting them off from the communities they cover. Now this. Michael Ferro has no idea what he’s doing. None. He’s going to run that place into the ground.
Comment by Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:33 am
You can’t replace artistic talent with technology and expect a better product. That’s not moving forward, it’s just a cheap knockoff.
Comment by Wensicia Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:35 am
Despicable. The media landscape is becoming hyper visual and you get rid of the visual people….because you want more multimedia?
Sun-Times Execs - Who You Crapping?
Comment by Dee Lay Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:37 am
it’s too bad because great news photography can really make a huge difference and explain to future generations in an entire period in an image. Having said that, these newspapers continue to fail to innovate or offer any compelling reasons to buy/click on their products. I don’t even bother going to suntimes or tribune anymore to read political news, I just come here and that’s without your intern covering extra bases. Most of their columnists write the same predictable stuff-did you know john kass likes the white sox and puts beer in chicken? I didn’t know because he doesn’t write it every week. And in general they seem more interested in complaining about the economy, changing times, readers, trends ect than innovating the way you and buzzfeed and grantland and the wall street journal and other sites have.
Comment by Shore Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:41 am
In Colbert’s words. Perfect as usual:
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/426877/june-05-2013/photojournalists-vs–iphones
Comment by flippy Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:43 am
Sad.
When I wrote for a 35,000-circulation downstate metro daily 30 years ago, the photographers insisted as a reporter I didn’t have the right skills to take a decent news photo. I resented it, but you know what? They were right.
Comment by olddog Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:48 am
Hiring freelancers is just the first step to short term profit maximization. I was an “independent contractor” freelancing for a trib entity to get extra money a few years ago. They had just started going to indy contractors to save on employee payroll taxes when I started. A year and a half later the freelancing ended as us independent contractors were getting replaced by unpaid interns.
These layoffs are not about technology. They are about breaking a union, putting short term profits before the long term public good (which matters when you try to pass yourself off as the fourth estate) and they are another example of how the people with money in this country have no respect or appreciation for the skills of the workers they employ and the way our economy is screwed up because labor has little power and little public esteem and how the unions have failed at getting the public to appreciate labor any more.
Comment by hisgirlfriday Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 12:06 pm
sad - and the content providers wonder why people don’t turn to them for content anymore
I haven’t read the sun times in years
Comment by siriusly Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 12:08 pm
A despicable act. Why even keep writers? Their delivery boys can push a pencil just as well.
(Full disclosure - I is a former PJ in a prior life.)
Comment by Ken_in_Aurora Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 12:22 pm
== The 1% pushes, pushes, and pushes, and the 99% watches Glenn Beck, and gives the Republicans a majority in the House of Representatives. The 99% get exactly what they deserve. ==
So the 1% is responsible for the decline in newspaper revenues? Really?
Heck if you want to ‘blame’ someone for this, it’s the internet generically and specifically it is to some extent Craigslist and eBay. As lower cost (and even free) alternatives to the classified section started appearing, classified ads have dropped off significantly and that was a significant source of revenue for newspapers.
Also other advertising options with better targeting (not only the internet but also local cable) have had an impact on advertising revenues.
Also circulation is down
http://media-cmi.com/downloads/Sixty_Years_Daily_Newspaper_Circulation_Trends_050611.pdf (pg 14)
Finally at least in the case of my local Sun Times Media Group Paper The Beacon News, I don’t really know anyone under 50 who reads it in paper form and virtually no one who reads it on-line. The folks in my neighborhood (in Aurora) tend to read the Oswego Patch (online only) much more than the Beacon (the Patch has no photographers).
The question is, is a lower quality of picture a problem? Do most stories need a pro? Does a press conference with the mayor need that sort of photography?
Comment by OneMan Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 12:27 pm
“(Full disclosure - I is a former PJ in a prior life.) ”
Apologies for the tortured syntax.
Comment by Ken_in_Aurora Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 12:29 pm
This isn’t so much a commentary on the Chicago Sun Times News Group but the newspaper industry in general. Sadly, the internet will eventially drive them all out of business.
Comment by Stones Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 12:32 pm
How about the local T.V. outlets. Have the Weather person run the camera, then the traffic person, etc.
Comment by Tobor Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 12:40 pm
The value that is left in the newspaper business is the content they produce, not the medium it is distributed on. As siriusly pointed out, it’s the content, stupid.
Why eliminate the producers of unique content when that is all you really have to offer? This is a very dumb move.
Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 12:40 pm
Very sad to see.
Comment by Formerly Known As... Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 12:50 pm
Cost benefit analysis justifies their elimination. They might take great photos but fewer people read newspapers, cameras are improving every day (I’d bet my phone has, in some ways, better technology than a professional photographer would have had a few years back), other media forms are growing. These trends will only continue. I expect the paper will be completely gone altogether in a few years, and I have mixed feelings on whether I even care about it.
Comment by Nice Kid Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 1:00 pm
47th hit it on the head. Besides their columnists, the ST was pretty much running AP stories outside of the sports section. And the Southtown was almost and exact match of the ST with the advertisers being local.
Comment by Been There Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 1:03 pm
While working at a previous job, I saw some video produced by a high school freshman. Had I not known differently, I would have assumed that professional work was involved. Instead, a young man with a $200 video camera and a very good eye and steady hand produced some production-quality video. Very high quality work can be done by amateurs. In fact, that usually how the really good ones start.
In addition, there is an assumption here that a reporter must write down every word he hears. With today’s ability to record sound and video with an iPhone or similar device for later review and transcription, a reporter can also take a few moments here and there to snap stills.
Comment by ProblemChild21 Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 1:25 pm
Calling them victims of changes in technology (i.e. comparing them to horse shoe makers and type setters) is missing the point. Their jobs aren’t becoming obsolete, their jobs are going to someone else.
Comment by Skeptic Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 1:36 pm
== How about the local T.V. outlets. Have the Weather person run the camera, then the traffic person, etc. ==
Happens in smaller markets now, many places the TV reporter is also the camera man
Comment by OneMan Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 1:51 pm
Recently had a local TV reporter to our place. She set up her camera, did all the shots, interviewed with the mic on camera, packed up, and headed home to edit for the night newscasts. My son has a 15 meg pixel camera. Takes great pictures with no effort. Tech is fun, but the price is coming clearer
Comment by zatoichi Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 2:06 pm
=== Very high quality work can be done by amateurs. In fact, that usually how the really good ones start.===
If companies like the Sun-Times get rid of all of their photographers, after they get started, where are these amateurs supposed to get jobs that actually pay them?
Comment by TwoFeetThick Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 2:09 pm
‘Video’ is a lazy way to report. Very few stories can be videotaped. This will result in even less in-depth analysis by the reporters.
Comment by Curmudgeon Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 2:40 pm
The comments regarding the hardware are off base. Quality cameras make taking images easier, but cannot replace the trained eye of a professional photographer.
Just like playing Microsoft Flight does not make everyone a trained 747 pilot.
Or sitting in an indy car, makes one a professional race car driver.
Or more simply put…are you suggesting that it was the BRUSH that made the Sistine Chapel great? Any amature passing by could have simply pushed Michelangelo out of the way and taken over with it?
Or that Michelangelo was just lucky to have such a great chisel when he made David?
Comment by How Ironic Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 3:06 pm
While I don’t remember any announcement, Gatehouse - at least the SJR - has done some of this. The pic below was taken by the one of the two writers.
http://www.sj-r.com/breaking/x1424274010/Eastvold-concedes-to-Moore-in-close-school-board-race?photo=0#axzz2VT7vEkt8
Comment by Anyone Remember? Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 3:13 pm
Very short-sighted. Any fool can take a picture; photography is an art. Just think of the iconic photographs from history.
As others have pointed out, content is king: it doesn’t matter what platform it’s on. The Sun-Times just cast off their visual artists.
Over the years, the Sun-Times has been harder to kill than Rasputin, but you have to wonder if this is the beginning of the end.
A newspaper without photographers? I can hear Ebert ripping the owners a new one right now…
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 3:56 pm
If the Sun-Times has made a mistake, they will rehire the photographers. This is the free market at work.
Comment by Cincinnatus Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 4:10 pm
@ Cincinnatus…
If it were only that easy. People are not robots. You can’t fire your talent, shug it off and simply re-hire them. And what makes you think they would WANT to come back?
You make it sound like there was a misspelling on a by-line on page 45 in the classifieds.
This wasn’t an ‘oops’.
Comment by How Ironic Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 4:13 pm
It’s bad enough that the advent of the digital camera made everyone think they were a photographer. Until now, publications understood that it takes more than a camera to create great photos. It is sad that the once proud Sun-Times is leading this march to mediocrity.
Comment by Draznnl Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 4:20 pm
Reporters to take own photos with phones?
Gonna be some weak pics out there.
Comment by walkinfool Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 4:54 pm
walkinfool
In Springfield they already are … .
Comment by Anyone Remember? Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 5:15 pm
The mass layoff of Sun-Times’ entire staff of photographers looks very much like union busting. Maybe these photographers should contact We Are One Illinois.
Comment by Ruby Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 5:53 pm
We are Ruby Karen Lewis marched at Sun Times with the photograpers
Comment by RNUG Fan Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 8:27 pm
My opinion? Meh.
Comment by Amuzing Myself Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 8:42 am